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Shrimp Lights

Broad Question

How would different colors of light affect brine shrimp?

Specific Question

How would differentiating colors of light affect small organisms such as the small crustaceans known as brine shrimp?

Variables

Independent Variable: Different Colored Lights

Dependent Variable: Concentration of Brine Shrimp

Variables That Need To Be Controlled: Normal White Light

Materials List

Brine shrimp eggs
Salt water-(highly salinated)
Four Transparent holding containers
Red,blue,green and white lights.
iridescent light source

Hypothesis

I hypothesized that the brine shrimp will most likely congregate in either the blue or the white lights.

Graph of Hypothesis

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Experimental Design

I will be conducting my experiment in Mrs.Ballou's classroom. Ms.Ballou and I are the only one with roles in this project, she will help me procure most of my materials, and keep them in her room for me. I will need to have at least two or three trials in order to successfully record the data. I will record the data on a spreadsheet, and then record it on a computer. I will also take pictures as I executing the project to show that it is legitimate.

Materials List:

Brine shrimp eggs
salt water
transparent holding containers
different colored filters
iridescent light source

Detailed Procedure

Gather materials
put salt water in a transparent holding container
put brine shrimp eggs in salt water
wait to hatch
build experimenting container
put iridescent light sources in three different places
place colored light filters
after a certain amount of time, place dividers
use pipette and preserve brine shrimp in different containers
repeat for more tests.
Record all data on spreadsheet.

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Background Research

Animals that live in salt marshes, mangrove swamps, and tidal flats all have built-in adaptations to deal with saltwater and changing levels of salinity. For example, brine shrimp can survive in seawater and brackish water and can be found in salt lakes and brine ponds all over the world. Brine shrimp have no defense against predation; however, so they can best thrive in conditions in which their predators cannot, such as high salinity and temperature.
Brine shrimp can only see two types of colors, red and blue. Everything else is black and white to them, so they will most likely go toward the bright blue or red. Their food is located mostly towards the surface of the ocean they live in, so they will go toward bright colors.
Brine shrimp can be found in a wide range of water salinities. Above 100 ppt (salinity level) no predators or food competitors survive, resulting in a monoculture (Meaning only one species survives.) under natural conditions.

References

Lewis. Color and Light. Logan, Iowa: Perfection Learning, 2006. Print.

"Brine Shrimp 2: Brine Shrimp Survival - Science NetLinks." Home - Science NetLinks. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2012.


"Article | Brine Shrimp Fact Sheet." Brine Shrimp Direct | Quality Aquarium Fish Food Products | Quality Fresh &, Marine Aquarium Fish Food Products. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2012. <http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/c90/Brine-Shrimp-Fact-Sheet-c87.html>.


"Ask.com - What's Your Question?." Ask.com - What's Your Question?. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2012. <http://www.ask.com/web?q=what+do+brine+shrimp+eat&search=&qsrc=364&o=0&l=dir>.

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Results

the original purpose of this experiment was to find out which color of light brine shrimp were most attracted to. I used three colors, white, blue, and red. the results of the experiment were not as I hypothesized, the brine shrimp congregated towards the white light no matter which way I turned the device. I thought that the blue would have attracted the most because they can detect the blue color.

Data Table

	Concentration of Brine shrimp
Color of Light
Blue
T1	32
T2	29
T3	39
Red
T1	16
T2	24
T3	25
White
T1	74
T2	96
T3	89

Graphs

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Conclusion

The original purpose of this experiment was to see which color of light the brine shrimp would congregate around. They congregated around th brightest color, white. My hypothesis was wrong.

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Discussion

My hypothesis was that the majority of the brine shrimp would congregate in the blue light area. My results do not support my hypothesis because they all congregated in the white light area. The effect of different colored lights enabled me to see a relationship between the two variables. Some patterns and trends in my data became clear on trial three, that most of the brine shrimp congregate in the plain white light, where it is brightest. There were little to no shrimp in any other areas other than white in comparison. I am pretty sure the test that i did went fairly smoothly. My tests went smoothly because I had everything set up the right way, so I had no problems. I don't think I could have improved my experiment, except for the lighting. the lights were annoying because they had to be set up in just the right way.